Electric hybrid vehicles offer the potential for significant fuel economy improvements over their conventional counterparts. The hybrid systems use electric motors to drive the vehicle when accelerating from a stop. After a certain vehicle speed is reached, the electric motors do not have the capacity to provide the power required by the vehicle. When the capacity of the electric motors is reached, the vehicle engine is started using friction launch clutches and one of the electric motors which drive the transmission. The friction launch clutches gradually reduce the slip between the engine and the hybrid system until the clutch is fully engaged and the engine and the transmission are operating at the same speed as one another. However, the friction launch clutches require high shift energy and result in efficiency losses.